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Frequent visitors to Cat-Opedia central may recall a tiny little plant that was rescued from  the grocery store.

For 99 cents!

Catnip

Two summers ago this sad, tiny little plant came home to make a certain cat happy. But would it survive?

Yes, it did!

Over 2 winters.

A wonderful addition to the garden, in its first year it produced plenty of happiness inducing leaves to keep a circus of cats happy and one little fellow in heaven from time to time.

As a perennial ( i.e.grows ever year) it survived its first winter, and then a second brutal winter. It died back to the ground and disappeared completely during the winter months. Given the harshness of the winter there was a question if it was going to actually grow back as so many plants and shrubs were lost.

But in very late spring it slowly reappeared and started to grow. By this second year the plant was well established and threw out great bushy shoots and gained considerable size.

In mid-July it was bee central with active pollination occurring and unlike the previous 2 summers was highly fragrant. Up to 3 feet away. So much so that if this was an area with a high cat population it might have become the hang out.

As summer progressed and extremely long, high temperatures arrived – in excess of 95 degrees – the plant went wild.

Long and leggy, with  increasing width, scorched flowers and much smaller leaves this plant has turned into a thug. Ruling it’s corner of the bed, demanding to be seen, but actually producing little of value this year. So assertive is it that it has pushed its neighboring mint plant further away – and mint is a plant that will take over if given a chance.

Any crop of leaves will be significantly smaller than last years harvest. But the bees loved it!

So, what happened?

Possibly a combination of a late, killing winter and a summer that was schizophrenic with blistering heat and torrential deluges stressed the plant, or just caused it to go wild.

Or, maybe it should have had better care, with  a prune mid-summer.

Or it is fighting for soil nutrients as there is a rampant grass edging closer and closer.

So what to do?

Not too sure, but it needs investigating. One thing for certain is it isn’t being pulled out. This happiness maker may be a thug but it deserves attention and some care to try and reign it in and stop it from exhausting itself with overgrowth. Possibly the years ahead will have smaller leavers and wider size. It might be wise to control the legginess – maybe a move of location. More research needs to be done. But for now it will be left and pruned back when the cooler temperatures arrive in October and a plan for the next growing season will be worked on.

Stay tuned!

Update

A check of the plant 3 days after this post showed some interesting growth. Cooler, damp weather had clearly excited it and it was sprouting from the base, and further along the bed.

It’s trying to takeover the bed.

A thug! But with fresh leaves there will one seriously happy little fellow.

And once again – stay tuned!